Why are people impressed with SpaceX?

Tekkip20@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 170 points –

So I've heard and seen the newest launch, and I thought for a private firm it seemed cool they were able to do it on their own, but I'm scratching my head that people are gushing about this as some hail mary.

I get the engineering required is staggering when it comes to these rocket tests, but NASA and other big space agencies have already done rocket tests and exploring bits of the moon which still astounds me to this day.

Is it because it's not a multi billion government institution? When I tell colleagues about NASA doing stuff like this yeaaaars ago they're like "Yea yea but this is different it's crazy bro"

Can anyone help me understand? Any SpaceX or Tesla fans here?

164

You are viewing a single comment

He can give himself whatever titles he likes, that doesn't mean he makes any positive technical contribution.

Watch a few of the multi hour interviews he given while raining through explaining everything. He knows what he's doing if you've not been paying attention. Lots of reasons to not like him but your completely wrong on this one

I have watched them. He's just repeating things. He has no grasp of engineering or astrophysics at a fundamental level. He is a sales guy.

The same is true for his software engineering skills. They are novice level, at best. Watching his engineering brainstorm sessions at Twitter was a painful experience. He only knows how to talk the talk. He constantly misuses key tech jargon and design patterns. His engineering group will literally visibly cringe whenever he makes a suggestion.

You worked with him at Twitter?

My dude.

I'm a Principal software engineer with 27 years in the industry. I run a team of highly tenured, extremely badass engineers for an extremely large enterprise corporation with 30k+ employees.

I know what I'm on about when it comes to software development.

I've watched the musk interviews and behind the scenes brainstorming sessions for the Twitter 2.0 idea. He's a hack.

What are your qualifications for praising him?